Before Ohio University Student Senate drafts a resolution to inform the state legislature of its stance on a student trustee voting rights bill, its members must decide where they stand on the issue.
Because the bill hasn’t been discussed thoroughly among senate, an informational presentation was added to this week's meeting agenda.
Senate’s State and Federal Affairs Commissioner Taylor Abbott and Ohio Student Government Association Delegate Stephanie Stark will present information regarding the bill at Wednesday’s Student Senate meeting.
The bill proposes that student trustees at every state university in Ohio be given voting privileges and access to all executive trustee sessions.
“We want senate as a body to come up with an opinion because we need to let the legislature know how we feel about this,” Abbott said.
Abbott and Stark are asking for students to attend the meeting and come forward during senate’s “Student Speak Out” to voice their opinions on the bill.
“We need opinions; there hasn’t been much said about it,” Abbott said. “We’re the representative body of the university, and if we have people come and give their opinion, we can draft a resolution urging our state legislature to pass this bill or urge them not to.”
OU has two student trustees who are appointed by the governor and serve a two-year term. The current trustees are Danielle Parker and Allison Arnold, both juniors studying public relations. Both said they feel able to adequately contribute to trustee discussions and decisions without a vote.
“From my perspective, there has never been a time that I, as a student trustee, felt my voice wasn’t being heard,” Parker said at the November Board of Trustees meeting.
Parker is serving her second year as a student trustee. Arnold, finishing up her first Fall Quarter as a student member of OU’s Board of Trustees, agreed.
“My opinion has been more than heard and appreciated,” Arnold said at the November Board of Trustees meeting. “Other universities should look to us. … I think that speaks to the dedication of the board.”
Parker and Arnold presented at last week’s student senate meeting regarding the bill, as well as their upcoming trustee application deadline.
Senate President Kyle Triplett served as a student trustee from 2009–11 and said he is also cautious about voting rights.
“I feel that being on the board — my experience was that I didn’t need to have voting rights because the voting trustees really take what the student trustees have to say seriously,” Triplett said. “I always thought it would be a strange conflict of interest.”
tl674710@ohiou.edu
